Pages tagged Countdown

Williamson also said that “in a Romney Administration, an American vice president won’t act like a teenager and keep the elected prime minister of Israel waiting for 45 minutes for dinner, because of a personal pique.” If standing up to Israeli officials when they embarrass American officials or undermine our policy makes one a “teenager,” we’re a little worried about the Romney camp’s conception of maturity.

If you find TSA screenings at U.S. airports invasive, wait until you hear this: Arab Americans attempting to enter Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories are now frequently being forced to open up their emails so Israeli border security can go through their messages and chats. When 42-year old Palestinian American Sandra Tamari refused to log into her Gmail to let Israeli border police go through it, she was expelled from the country.

We take a break from our election news to remind you that the first real presidential election in Egypt’s history is taking place today. Well, it’s actually two days of voting, and none of the 13 candidates are expected to secure the 50% needed to win the election, so a runoff vote between the two top candidates is expected in June, but still... today is the day the lengthy process of electing an Egyptian president begins! 50 million Egyptians are eligible to cast ballots, but no one is sure yet what powers the new president will hold in the country. While it may still take some time for Egypt to sort itself out, we salute Egyptians today on another historic turning point in their transition towards democracy; one that will undoubtedly impact the whole Arab world.

Landry reminded Louisiana voters about this Boustany scandal: “Oh and don’t forget that you are paying for his Congressional health care too” (unlike Landry’s Congressional health care, which is paid for by Disney’s Tinker Bell).

Well, Romney just had Santorum’s McCain moment. Yesterday, a women told Romney that President Obama should be tried for “treason,” and Romney went on talking about how the constitution is important. Just when you think you’ve found the limits of our tolerance for madness in our political discourse, you find out you haven’t.

Our event succeeded in disrupting the anti-Muslim narrative Spencer and Geller hoped to spread throughout the media. After the conclusion of our event, two AAI staff members and Countdown writers headed to the Spencer/Geller event, only to be escorted out by police... but not before taping this amusing video (you have to watch it).

What’s so “appropriate” about spying on Arab Americans and American Muslims? We don’t know either. To make things more confusing, we were just told at the Arab American Leadership Day briefing at the White House that there was an on-going DOJ investigation into the NYPD’s surveillance operations. So why was Mr. Brennan prematurely stating publicly that he has “full confidence that the NYPD is doing things consistent with the law?"

If Chabot and Engle truly want to discipline a dependent, but out-of-control state that is hindering peace with its obnoxious and disorderly behavior, I’m sure the Palestinians would want to be the first to happily point them in the right direction.

But if you actually care to look at the details, it will quickly become clear that Ron Paul is the losing candidate whose ideas continue to influence the national conversation; out-fundraising Gingrich, and receiving more than twice as many Twitter mentions in the last week alone. But Gingrich’s desperate search for relevance goes on, to a strange mixture of our amusement and agony.